French Open Highlights: Djokovic defeats Casper Ruud – Novak Djokovic wins his career-crowning 23rd Grand Slam title. The 36-year old Serbian defeats Casper Ruud 7-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final at the French Open 2023 on Sunday, 11th June 2023.
Novak Djokovic’s feats after winning the French Open
- He becomes the first-ever man to win 23 Grand Slam titles.
- The victory propelled him back to the top spot in the ATP Rankings.
- Eclipses Rafael Nadal as the oldest Roland Garros champion at the age of 36 years and 20 days.
- Becomes first man to win all four Grand Slam events at least three times.
Playing in his third championship match in the past five major tournaments, Ruud battled well but was unable to maintain his scintillating start. Djokovic saved two break points with a pair of hammered forehands but then miscued an overhead long to hand Ruud an early break in an epic second game that featured five deuces.
Djokovic reclaimed the break in the seventh game after the Norwegian returned the favour by netting a smash of his own. The firsts set then moved into the tie-breaker. Djokovic then continued his stunning form in tie-breaks to move ahead.
As in his earlier wins against Marton Fucsovics and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Paris, the early tie-break victory appeared to help Djokovic zone in as he maintained his stellar level in the early stages of the second set. He raced to a 3-0 lead by consistently winning the extended exchanges against Ruud.
Djokovic’s break in the second game proved enough for him to move further clear. The Serbian dropped just five points behind his serve in the second set as he pinned Ruud back and restricted the 10-time ATP Tour titlist’s opportunities to forge a comeback. The Serbian won the set 6-3.
In the third set, Djokovic looked to be continuing his dominance. He threatened an early breakthrough after bringing up 30/40 on Ruud’s serve. The Norwegian however held on to his serve and kept alive his hopes of kick-starting a comeback. Those hopes faded in the 11th game when Djokovic delivered a string of razor-sharp returns before crushing a backhand cross-court winner at 0/40 to break Ruud and move to the brink of history.
Although the Norwegian snapped an 11-point winning streak for Djokovic by saving the first of three match points in the following game, he then pushed a forehand wide, prompting an emotional Djokovic to fall backwards onto the Parisian clay.
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